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Similarities Between Civil War And Reconstruction

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Civil War and Reconstruction: Manifestations of American Memories. The Civil War and Reconstruction are two of the most important and complex periods in U. S. history that have affected American historical memory. Such periods are best explained by both scholars' analyses and the cultural representation that emerges from the domains of high and popular culture. This essay explores two major historiographical perspectives: the Lost Cause myth and the narrative of the Second Revolution. Applying such sources as works of historians David W. Blight and Eric Foner, as well as, cultural objects such as the Stone Mountain Confederate monument and George Caleb Bingham’s painting "Order No. 11. This essay’s goal is to determine how memory culture impacts …show more content…

Foner also defines Reconstruction as an incomplete revolution which aimed at enfranchising the freed slaves and creating new political rights. However, Reconstruction was not a complete success story given that it was met with lots of resistance from the former master class in the South and finally met its ugly end through racist violence, emergence of Klan and other groups of whites who dominated over the freed slaves through terrorism. Foner takes it a point to note that the inability of reconstruction to deliver equal rights left the nation with race issues that continued to reign in the civil struggles of the twentieth century (Foner, 1988). The frame of the “Second Revolution” provides detailed information on the revolutionary process of Reconstruction and the presence of the resistance voices, which emphasize that the struggle for an adequate position of African Americans remains an essential part of the American history. Thus, Reconstruction can be defined as a rather dramatic period in the US history, both from the viewpoint of social and political development of the countries. Reconstruction as a policy of the federal government of the United States involved numerous legislative …show more content…

The Lost Cause, as defined by David W. Blight, comforts the Confederate cause and the slavery’s participation was not a big deal, on the other hand, the Second Revolution as discussed by Eric Foner is stressing the Revolutionary shifts and the Reconstruction’s work is not over yet. The traveled narratives are shown in cultural representations: the Stone Mountain Confederate monument and George Caleb Bingham’s “Order No. 11”. The sleeve is a sleeve. Monuments about the Confederate, as depicted by SPLC, have not lost their significance and continue to shape the perception of the public on the Civil War. Art in general, therefore, holds a strong position in influencing the collective memory through creating aesthetic narratives that act as a supplement or a counter to the narratives of history. Even so, when considering the Civil War and Reconstruction, it would be quite valuable to pay attention to cultural productions and analyze them in terms of the historical effects and the possibilities of the social transformation they offer. Therefore, it is suggested that by viewing these stories and their encoded cultural references, it helps to understand the real history of America. It’s in engaging with the difficulties and paradoxes of these eras that it’s

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From the title, “West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War” we are met with the deals of conceptive reconstruction during the time after the Civil War. A time in which the country formed ideals of citizenship and the role of the government. The title is devoted to the theme of Heather Cox Richardson’s illustration of Western influence on this period of reconstruction post-Civil War. This view of post-war reconstruction is formatted in a timeline to include many of the political debates of the late nineteenth century. She shows an effective examination of how the post-war reconstruction, has produced a modern day construction that sits behind concepts of individualism, the middle class, and governmental influence.

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The Reconstruction Era “witnessed a profound experiment in reshaping the social and political institutions [of the United States]” wrote Eric Foner, a historian specializing in the Civil War and Reconstruction. Foner’s expertise is shown is his novel, Forever Free the African American’s story of their history in the Civil War, an American war fought between the North’s Union and the South’s Confederate States of America in the mid-19th century that stemmed from the sectional issue of slavery, and the Reconstruction, the period following this war as the government reshaped and the United States acknowledged the rights of freed slaves. Foner discussed how a low number of people could identify the Reconstruction and its effect on history, and

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The Reconstruction period was a time of hope but also a time of challenges forming the future of African American rights in the United States.

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The flag’s presence above the fort on the morning of September 14 signaled an unexpected American victory against an empire (Poole), resulting in a turning point in the war (The Star-Spangled Banner Project). The flag inspired the “Star-Spangled Banner” because the flag was a symbol of America, and after the battle, a symbol of its victory, being memorialized in the poem (Poole). The inspiration of one battle, one man, and one flag made the “Star-Spangled Banner” a powerful

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Everywhere the war was discussed, fought, analyzed, re-analyzed, cheered and damned, the enslaved were there or thereabout. As Ward makes clear, like the institution that imprisoned them, the enslaved were an integral part of life in the South, an inextricable component of all the southern institutions—public and private. Intimately linked to the soldiers, sailors, and politicians of all ranks, the enslaved were a constant presence, witnessing much of everything that was said or read aloud. And, once fed into the infamous “slave grapevine,” the black community learned about the discussions taking place in the “Big House,” in the corridors of power, and around military campfires. Never the mere objects about which two mighty, white armies fought, seen through the eyes of the bondmen and women, the Civil War becomes in some ways a different war.

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The period following the Civil War, known as Reconstruction, was a time of great challenge for the federal government as it sought to rebuild and reunite a divided nation. The task of reconstructing the South presented a number of significant challenges, including the rebuilding of physical infrastructure, the protection of the rights of newly freed slaves, and the reintegration of former Confederate states into the Union. Thesis Statement: Despite facing significant challenges in the areas of political, social, and economic reorganization, as well as addressing the rights and status of newly freed slaves, the federal government's efforts towards reconstructing the South after the Civil War were ultimately successful in laying the foundations for a more equitable and just society.

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The reconstruction period was a failure because African Americans, mainly males, were not treated with equality although the constitution said that the they were free and had the right to vote, be educated and had the right to liberty, life and the pursuit to happiness. Organizations, like the KKK, were created to harm freed slaves and their families. Laws were created such as the Black Codes restricting former slaves from their rights. African Americans endured a lot of violence over the years. “In Grayson, Texas, a white man and two friends murdered three former slaves because the wanted to ‘ thin the niggers out and drive them to their hole’”.

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Reconstruction Essay Throughout history, there have been many forms of discrimination, based on gender, nationality, religion, age, parental status, sexuality, disability, race, among many others. For as long as discrimination has existed, there have been people who have abnegated its morality, and who have actively fought against it. As one might expect, such individuals have envisaged many different means of combatting this bigotry, and one of the concepts that those individuals have repeatedly utilized has been the idea that using the government to pass laws against the virulence of discrimination. This, however, has not proven to be efficacious. Laws can be circumvented in numerous ways, and, because of this, no real progress has been

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Out of all the periods of American literature, none are as varied and changing as the Contemporary period. This is especially true in the events and history that unfolded The United States of America came out of the largest war in human history as one of two dominant superpowers in the world next to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. For the next century, the world would be dominated at first by the actions of the two superpowers, then by only one of them. American history was at its most tumultuous during the Contemporary Period.

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The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).

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In the news today, a continual debate can be found about the significance of Confederate monuments and if they should remain or be removed. Confederate monuments that have been erected throughout the U.S. should be kept because of the preservation of America’s history. For instance, in the article, The Unbearable Lightness of Confederate-Statue Removal, the author lists how slaveholder monuments aren’t the only statues being vandalized, but the Lincoln Memorial and Mount Rushmore are other symbols of U.S. history that some believe need to “blow up” (Murdock). Every historical symbol can have both people who appreciate it and who oppose it. That doesn’t mean that we should tear down all symbols, but

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This book traces the history of slavery in the United States from 1820 until the beginning of the Civil War era. In this book by Professor Louis Filler, he writes about Albert B. Hart 's Slavery and Abolition, 1831-1841, and Theodore C. Smith 's Parties and Slavery, 1850-1859. However, major episodes in American history like the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott decision are not emphasized on, nor are they written in detail. Despite the fact that the book is supposed to be about slavery, it was surprising that those topics and major contributions that happened in those trying times were not included.

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Reconstruction caused prejudice and inequality. To elaborate, the creation of the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Codes were both in the time period of reconstruction, which caused chaos and violence throughout the Union. One of the goals of reconstruction was to repair the economy in the South, because it depended on slavery, which was now illegal, due to the thirteenth amendment. The South’s economic system now depended on Sharecropping, which caused former slaves to be in constant debt and was unjust to the black society. The reconstruction time period, was a time of dispute between the Union.

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